*(S Rating) Scarcity Rating (includes
scarcity, relevance and content) - with 10 being the most desirable and 1
easiest to acquire. Those highlighted in the deeper shades of red are highly
sought after works.

This extremely rare book gives "an
account of the Cape of Good Hope and the Hottentotes". William Rhyne,
a Member of the Council of Justice to the Dutch East India Company, originally
wrote this work in Latin - the book held is the English translation which
was published at Scasshausen in Switzerland in 1704.

The book gives a rare insight into the lives of the natives in the very early
days of settlement by the Dutch in the Cape - and it is translated into
contemporary English from an original report by Zevorzit written in 1671
- less than 20 years after van Riebeeck's party settled in Cape Town.

Extracts read:It's unknown hitherto, what Fort
or People borders upon the country of the Hottentotes; for what some have
related of the Negroes (commonly called Caffers) is founded upon heresay...
The Hottentotes being very much sunburnt have generally a tawny skin tho'
some of them have a tolerable white skin; but blackness is the greatest beauty
among them, for the rest they either strew a certain Earth, of various colours,
upon their heads, or mix the same with Suet, and so besmear their Hair and
Faces, which they look upon as a singular Ornament; for there is a certain
mountain here, which furnishes them with the materials for diverse colours.
which if rightly managed, would turn to a good account. (The Hottentots
were the foundation of the Griqua nation).

Critical comment on this work:

COSMOGRAPHY IN FOUR BOOKS. CONTAINING
THE CHOREOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF THE WHOLE WORLD: AND ALL THE PRINCIPAL KINGDOMS,
PROVINCES, SEAS, AND THE ISLES THEREOF, WITH AN ACCURATE AND APPROVED INDEX
OF ALL THE KINGDOMS, PROVINCES, COUNTRIES, INHABITANTS, PEOPLE, CITIES,
MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, SEAS, ISLANDS, FORTS, BAYS, CAPES, FORESTS, &C. OF
ANY REMARQUE IN THE WHOLE WORLD, London, 1682,

This extraordinary
60 page translation of the 1767 oratory made by Hemmy to the Hamburg Academy
on the 10th April 1767 gives a wonderful insight into the life at the Cape
at a time when much of history was missed.

This race of men has a good physique, is swift of
foot, and averse to hard labour: the majority of them succumb to old age,
except those who fall victim to weapons or wild beasts. In colour they are
dark rather than black. They are tall and thin, yet so powerful they can
withstand the charge of an ox in full career. Their eyes are beautiful but
watery, their noses flattened, their breath foul-smelling. Their teeth are
ivory white. Their fingers are equipped with little talons, like the claws
of eagles. They have graceful ankles and small feet. Their hair is like wool
and adorned with pendants or coral` and numerous types of trinkets, made
of lead, copper or brass. The great majority of them go about naked or wearing
sheepskins they call "Krossen", and which they wear instead of clothing,
their private parts they cover with a loin cloth, known as the Kul-Kross.
The woman have pendulous breasts, which they can throw over their shoulders
and offer to their babies. The chief ornaments of the women are in the form
of beads. To protect themselves against the heat of the sun they anoint their
faces and bodies with an agent made of animal fat, butter and soot. Some
of them live off the raw flesh of animals, the rest eat it half-cooked, dragging
the flesh through their teeth.

A copy of the English translation edited by K D White in 1959, in excellent
condition, is in the Balson Holdings Family Trust collection.

Critical comment on this work:

This work gives a wonderful insight into the early days after the first
settlement - with special reference to the beautiful gardens in Cape Town
and at Kirstenbosch.

Critical comment on this work:

In 1705, Baron Krosick,
Kolben's patron, dispatched him to the Cape in order to establish its longitude
and to study the natural history of the Cape. Kolben compiled what is one
of the first serious accounts in English, on the Cape's interior culture.
The majority of the work comprises detailed descriptions of the Hottentots.
Beginning with a lengthy discussion of Hottentot dress and physical appearance,
Kolben's commentary turns to their 'several nations' and the laws, religious
ceremonies and customs that characterize them. Vivid and compelling anecdotes
depict Hottentot marriage, the course of local justice, initiation rites,
animal husbandry and hunting practices.

Kolben records how the Hottentots urinated over each other at major ceremonies
like weddings - with the recipient eagerly scratching his or her body so
that the urine would sink in. He also records how the young man's rite to
adulthood included the removal of the left testicle in a very painful exercise
- so that the man could run faster.

A captivating account from a contemporary collection of voyages and travels,
in itself complete. This comes from the esteemed and extensive compilation
by Edward Cavendish Drake, entitled, "A New Universal Collection of Authentic
and Entertaining Voyages and Travels, from the Earliest Accounts to the Present
Time. Judiciously Selected from the Best Writers in the English, French,
Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Danish, and other languages. Comprehending
an account of whatever is curious in the Government, Commerce, Natural History,
Customs, Marriages, Funerals, and other Ceremonies of Most Nations in the
Known World. Including an Account of the Most Remarkable Discoveries, Conquests,
Settlements, Battles, Sea Fights, Hurricanes, Shipwrecks, Sieges, Tortures,
Wonderful Escapes, Massacres and Strange Deliverances, both by Sea and Land.
Also a Description of the Buildings, Mountains, Rivers, Harbours, Lakes,
Islands, Peninsulas, Creeks, &c. of Various Countries. The Whole Forming
a History of Whatever is Most Worthy of Notice in Europe, Asia, Africa and
America. Illustrated with maps from the latest improvements, and beautiful
plates, By Grignion, and other celebrated masters."

Francois le Vaillant's
published accounts of his two voyages into the interior of the Cape of Good
Hope were probably the most popular and influential accounts Europeans had
read on Africa before the nineteenth century. The first book (these two volumes)
cover his trip to the east of the Dutch settlement in South Africa reaching
the Great Fish River and returning through the Karoo. He was one of the first
Europeans to penetrate the interior of southern Africa, reaching the southern
borders of the Kalahari Desert. His work narrates life in the Dutch colony
and the conflicts between the English and the Dutch over possession of the
Cape, including the loss of his collection of flora and fauna when his ship
was attacked by the English. Altogether it is said that he collected about
2000 specimens of birds, as well as others of mammals, insects, plants, and
Hottentot artefacts. Many of these specimens were as yet unknown to science.
He was able to travel in the Cape as a "foreigner" because he was under the
sponsorship of Jacob Temminck, treasurer of the Dutch East India Company.

The narrative is characterized by the intelligent and interesting manner
in which it is written, although the rhapsodies on the Hottentots must have
sounded appalling to British colonial ears and later the apartheid regime.
His love passages with the fair 'Narina' (see plate IV below) and his evident
admiration for many of the other native women are remarkable for the time
(Mendelssohn). Among the plates is that of 'A Hottentot woman', showing the
peculiar confirmation sometimes found in females of this race (plate VII
see bottom pic below). This plate caused huge scandal and was often suppressed
and in later editions it was replaced by another one. His informal writing
style and his devotion of space to the Africans living within and beyond
the Dutch claimed territory fed his readers' interest in the exotic while
providing new information on the interior and its inhabitants. Le Vaillant's
reputation suffered when Sir John Barrow took him to task when preparing
his own account of the Cape for the English Governor in 1797. His literary
license and his Rousseau inspired philosophy on the dignity of the Africans
he encountered resulted in such a degree of rejection by subsequent travellers,
and English Imperial Historiography, that his two books have only recently
been rehabilitated by the anthropologist and historian. It was only in 1963
when a private collection of 165 original paintings he made of his travels
and of the flora, fauna and particularly the birds he collected were sold
at Sothebys, that the scholarly community learned that Le Vaillant might
have been more than just another traveller to the Cape. They were purchased
for the Mendelssohn Collection. It is clear that the plates in his printed
travel books are taken directly from these paintings.

There were two keys to Le Vaillant's success as a collector of specimens
during these voyages. He had been given a new taxidermy formula by Jean-Baptiste
Becoeur before the latter died in1777: it was an arsenical soap, and he was
thus able to preserve his specimens well. No one else had the recipe for
another 20 years. Secondly, he could take advantage of French improvements
to the flintlock mechanism on the musket, and could no doubt fire more quickly
and with greater accuracy with the improved gun, obviously necessary for
shooting birds. Le Vaillant was an energetic naturalist of serious intent,
and a pioneer. His faults are overwhelmed by the weight and abundance of
his achievements. He is now regarded as the founder of African
ornithology". Copies of the early editions of this book are much much rarer
with hand colouring to the plates. Of the eighteen copies sold at auction
since in the last thirty years, only three have the plates in colour, and
one of these has been censored with an overpainted apron on the plate of
the Hottentot woman.

Critical comment on this work:

Le Vaillant, a
Frenchman, was one of the first explorers to proceed into the interior
of South Africa.

His trip lasted between 1780 and 1785 and was extraordinarily explicit in
its content. For example the book contains images of a nude Hottentot man
and woman (see images below). The image of the woman on page 350 is normally
removed making this already rare work even more valuable. The picture of
the nude male has been tampered with. Indeed these two pictures caused quite
a scandal at the time as did his description of his romance with a "savage".

On his way to the Cape Le Vaillant encountered a British Clipper in Cape
waters shortly after the outbreak of war with Batavia. In the ensuing one-sided
battle on a Dutch East India boat, which he describes at length, he lost
all his worldly possessions and nearly his life.

It was after he lost everything that he started exploring the interior of
South Africa and became romantically involved with a Hottentot from the Gonaqua
tribe. As a result his descriptions of their lives and lifestyle is as accurate
as any found in the diaries of the early explorers. His controversial book
of the times romanticises the Hottentots - like Lieutenant
Colonel John Sutherland.

In this book Le Vaillant often refers to the Hottentots as "Caffre".

There is some staining and browning in the book but the contents are sound
and the pages untrimmed (which is quite common for books of this era).

A first edition copy of the two volumes, valued at several thousand dollars,
is held in the Balson Holdings Family Trust collection.

Critical comment on this work:

This work by Le Vaillant, a French ornithologist, provides a valuable insight
into the lives of the Hottentots.

Perth R. Morison Junior. D. Lizars (Engravings) Very Good volume in lightly worn contemporary calf of the pirated edition which was taken from the London Second Edition of 1786.

Both contents pages bound into volume one; the chapter headings for Vol II are shown in the contents pages as Chapter X onwards, but are, in volume two actually Chapter 1 onwards. Page skip, without loss, from page 136 to 139 in Vol II.

Forster induced Sparrman, a pupil of Linnaeus, to join Cook on the second voyage. Description of the voyage is brief (fourteen weeks in the Antarctic waters receives only a few lines) but he does relate, as an eyewitness, an incident north of New Zealand unrecorded in logs or journals, when the Resolution and Adventure avoided a serious collision by only a hairsbreadth. Tha majority of the text and all the plates deal with his journeys and natural history excursions in South Africa, despite his visiting and studying same in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands on this second Cook voyage. 12mo, pp, xx, 264.; pp 261. Pencilled sketches of Dutch East India Company boats at both front and back.

Critical comment on this work:

EXtremely old and rare book with important comments about contact with the Hottentots.

First edition, 404 pages, 8vo (5.75" x 8.75"), bound in half leather with
marble boards, five raised spine bands with gilt titles and decoration, in
very good condition with some moderate wear to the corners resulting in wear
down to the boards.

From the title page: "After the Ruin of his Family in 1745, was thrown when
a Child on the wide World; the Ways of which, with many curious, useful,
and interesting Particulars he had occasion to observe, and has taken care,
by Means of a regular Journal, to record, while he served, in various
departments, a great number of Noblemen and Gentlemen, English, Scotch, Irish,
Dutch, etc., etc.".

A first edition copy of the book is held in the Balson Holdings Family
Trust collection.

This extremely rare
386 page hardback half leather book with marbled boards is in average
condition. The cover is cracked and just attached to the book - and there
is some scattered foxing throughout which is quite bad on the first few pages.
This ex-library (Springfield, Massachusetts) book is the First American edition
replicated from the London Quarto Edition. Published by NY, G.F. Hopkins,
for John Conrad & Co. in 1802

The book, covers Barrows travels into South Africa during 1797 and 1798 and
includes Cursory Observations on the geology and geography of the Southern
part of that continent ; the natural history of such objects as occurred
in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; and sketches on the physical
and moral characters of the various tribes of inhabitants surrounding the
settlement of the Cape of Good Hope.

Chapters include: general view of the Cape , and a more particular
description of the promontory call The Cape of Good Hope ; Sketches on a
journey from The Cape of Good Hope , across the Karroo ...to the Drosdy of
Graaff Reynet ; Sketches on a journey into the Country of the Kaffers ; Sketches
on a journey int the Country of the Bosjesmans ; Sketches on a journey from
Graaff Reynet along the sea-coast to the Cape ; Sketches on a journey into
the Country of the Namaquas

An original copy of this book in poor condition is in the Balson Holdings
Family Trust collection.

London:
1820 8vo., 24pp. (also numbered pp.97-120), recently well bound in linen-backed
marbled boards lettered. Oval ink stamp of L.S.E. on verso of title-page,
but still a very good copy. The text in original form is extremely rare and
equaly historic in nature - being the catalyst for the 1820 settlers.

From the Pamphleteer, vol.XVII, no.33. Mullen 340. Mendelssohn p.223. The
pamphlet was first published separately in 1819. This was one of Burchell's
"two or three very judicious pamphlets on the subject of Cape
emigration" (DNB).

The author recommends those who wish to emigrate from England to consider
the advantages offered by the Cape of Good Hope. 'He reflects on the number
of persons who are yearly quitting these shores, weakening the strength of
the Empire to add to the population of countries that may unfortunately,
at some future time, employ them or their descendants in shedding British
blood', and he is anxious that these people should go to an English colony.
He gives a short sketch of the Cape, and suggests that a sufficient number
of English emigrants should be located in a specific tract of country, instead
of mixing them up indiscriminately with the Boer population, which would
hereafter 'form a serious impediment in the way of new settlers' unacquainted
with the Dutch language.

He gives a short sketch of the Cape, and suggests that a sufficient number
of English emigrants should be located in a specific tract of country, instead
of mixing them up indiscriminately with the Boer population, which would
hereafter 'form a serious impediment in the way of new settlers' unacquainted
with the Dutch language". [Mendelssohn loc. cit.] William J. Burchell (1782
-1863), explorer and naturalist, travelled extensively in South Africa,
1811-1815, making scientific observations and collecting natural history
specimens. He published an account in 1822.

William John Burchell is regarded as one of the greatest of the early African
explorers. He was an accomplished naturalist, who amassed vast natural history
collections and described many new species. In his account, he advocates
emigration from England to to the Cape, and presents the advantages.

An original copy of this booklet in excellent rebound condition is in
the Balson Holdings Family Trust collection.

Critical comment on this work:

A fascinating and historic work by one of South Africa's best known explorers.

This extremely rare
580 page second (British) edition hardback half leather book with marbled
boards is in excellent condition. Although the book is the second edition
it is harder to find than the expensive first edition.

The book was once the property of Boston College Library, Chestnut Hill.

The book, covers Latrobe's travels along the south coast of South Africa
in 1816. His route can be seen by clicking on the image below.

Latrobe left England to visit the missionaries at Genadendal and Groenekloof.
As the Governor of the Cape had expressed a wish that a third missionary
post should be opened, the author travelled through a large part of the country
in order to choose a suitable site. From Groenekloof his journey led him
to Genadendal via Zwellendam, Zeekogat, Welgelegen, Uitenhage to the Witte
River and thence to the Little Fish river. Amongst others he gave an account
of the life of the up-country farmers at this period, observing that they
existed in an extremely primitive manner, concerned only with leaving their
descendants a good herd of cattle, and taking little interest in the cultivation
or advancement of the country. He also described what has become known as
the "Slachter's Nek" episode; the execution of five rebels in the district
of Uitenhage.

The book is written as a journal and includes a comprehensive index at the
back.

The following statement can be seen on page 120 of the book regardng the
acquisition by the early settlers of land at Gnadenthal just 130 miles north
east of Cape Town. This process of leganised theft from the Hottentot population
was replicated around the Griqua lands of Philippolis by the Boers a few
years later:This place (Stoffels-Kraal) likewise belonged
to a tribe of Hottentots, but was taken from them, by a species of robbery,
very common in former days, when for a few bottles of brandy, or some other
trifling consideration, the best lands in their possession were purchased
of them; and the Hottentot captain, perhaps, in a state of intoxication,
led to some magistrate, by whom the shameful bargain was ratified. The poor
fellow did not come to his senses, till too late to recant, when he perceived
with dismay, how he had suffered himself and his people to be
duped.

An original copy of this book in excellent rebound condition is in the
Balson Holdings Family Trust collection.

Plates in the book

Critical comment on this work:

A useful work for research purposes when studying the lives of the Hottentots
on the coast of the Cape.

A twelve page extract from the Royal
National Geographic Society magazine. Comes with a contemporary map that
present Delagoa Bay (aka Lourenco Marques) in Mozambique as the centre of
the South African universe.. and so it was at this time.

The Britain had only recently taken control of the Cape and the Dutch were
still very much the most dominant white settlers in the region. And Portuguese
owned Delagoa Bay would continue to be an
important link for the descendants
of the Dutch well after the Boer war.

Interesting is the spelling of such peoples as the "Zoolahs" (Zulus) and
places like Latakoo "Litakoo" in the region where
Robert Moffat played such an important role
at this time.

This important comment sums up the changes that would soon impact on the
Griquas (pp 319)

The Griquas possess horses; and if these, with good
cattle, were imported into the wealthier countries farther to the north east,
they would no doubt prove very acceptable to a people who, with all their
industry, still retain an affection for their pastoral pursuits.

A copy of the interesting article and map (see below) is held in excellent
condition in the Balson Holdings Family Trust collection.

Critical comment on this work:

Although this is an interesting article it is amazing how poorly informed
the author was about when it came to the people of southern Africa!

This 48 page inquiry
sought by the British Government looks at the impact of white settlement
on the native tribe of South Africa - extending to the extermination of the
bushmen in large parts of South Africa by the Griquas (period covered: 1652
to 1841). This extremely rare book cannot be found for sale on the Internet.

The Munger Africana Library
copy has the original blue soft
cover rebound into the book

The other rebound copy
in the Balson Holdings
Family Trust

Moodie states that
"A population of 200,000 Hottentots in
the Cape was reduced to just 32,000 (under the Dutch) "through a continued
system of oppression". This comment is carried in the
foreward of Balson's book "Children of
the Mist". The Hottentots were the foundation of the Griqua people.
The book spells out how the Griqua people in the 1820s decimated the Bushman
population around Philippolis - clearly survival of the fittest is the
cornerstone of all species on earth.

The book, highly critical of Dr Philip at Philippolis and Mr Read at Bethelsdorp,
was written before the boers displaced the Griquas from the same lands they
had taken from the Bushmen.

The Balson Holdings Family Trust collection holds two copies of the
first edition book published in 1841 in excellent condition.

Critical comment on this work:

This is a fascinating work which looks at the impact of settlement on the
native tribes. The book is based on a number of letters and statements made
by prominent people including Dr Philip (who established Philippolis as a
reserve for the Bushmen and Lieutenant General Stockenstrom - the Magistrate
in the northern Cape near Philippolis).

The handing over of the territory to the Griquas under Adam Kok not long
after Rev John Campbell's visit to Griqua Town was disastrous with the Bergenaars
under Hendrick Hendricks literally exterminating the very people (the Bushmen)
who he had been empowered to protect. The Griqua's later complaints to the
British about the boer occupation of "their" lands at Philippolis should
be seen in light of the manner in which they secured this territory from
the original inhabitants, the Bushmen.

Extremely rare, voluminous 710 and 432 page hard covered books providing
a valuable compilation based on Moodie's Records and the works of many of
the early writers on South African matters. The books covers reports on the
Kaffers, Hottentots and Bosjeman from the earliest days - including the months
after van Riebeeck first settled in the Cape and records how hard it was
to get the people to sell their livestock.

The spare book held by the Balson Holdings Family Trust was once in the library
of Ruth and Walter Middelmann - embossed sticker. The Middelmann's built
a large protea industry in the Cape.

The author, Lieutenant Colonel John Sutherland, was a controversial
character in those times because he often took and understood the indigenous
people and their needs. He was seen as eccentric - with his comments on the
early reports, often taking the side of the Hottentots being ridiculed.

The Balson Holdings Family Trust holds copies of the two extremely
rare volumes of this book and a spare of the second volume - all books valued
at about US$500 each. It cannot be found for sale on the Internet.

Critical comment on this work:

London: Henry Renshaw, 1850. This rare first edition in need of re-binding;
12 x 19 cm with 479 pages. Half leather/marbled with marbled endpapers. The
boards are scuffed & worn with rear board detached and damaged spine
cover. The binding appears intact but is uneven and loose. Internally there
is a small booksellers and a prior owners name in ink on the flyleaves
and the frontispiece picture is missing.. The pages are evenly yellowed with
age but are otherwise in good, unfoxed condition apart from one small edge
tear and what could be a repaired tear on page 229 which does not affect
the text.

This book is written by Dr Robert Knox of Burke and Hare fame (murderers
from whom he unsuspectingly bought bodies for anatomical study and thus lost
his reputation ). The book is based on Knox's public lectures and was written
9 years before Darwins Origin of the Species  at a
time when racism was morally and intellectually acceptable at all levels
of society in Scotland. Not just racism as we now understand it, but the
idea that people exist as races and not as nations and that there are huge,
irreconcilable differences within the Caucasians.

Image right: Fronticepiece "Races of
Men"

Knox was much opposed to Imperialism and recognised the terrible injustices
of the time. For example he says, "ask the......whence comes his contempt
and inward dislike to the Hottentot, .... the Caffre; ask him for his warrant
to reduce these unhappy races to bondage and to slavery; to rob them of their
lands, and to enslave their children; to deny them the inalienable right
of man to a portion of the earth on which he was born? If he be an honest
and straightforward man, he will point to the fire-arms suspended over the
mantelpiece - "There is my right!". The statesmen of modern Europe manage
such matters differently; they arrive it is true, at the same result - robbery,
plunder, seizure of the lands of others - but they do it by treaties, protocols,
alliances......". Knox is also remarkably prescient about the future
importance of the United States and conflict in Europe.

The Balson Holdings Family Trust holds a good copy of the book which needs
rebinding.

Critical comment on this work:

A fascinating read  despite the faulty logic and lack of evidence for
many of the arguments - and the author gives candid opinions about events
of the time and some of his contemporaries.

This extremely rare
early edition of The Diamond News carries a front page of contemporary
advertisements including reference to the evolving De Beers mine which is
today the largest diamond mining conglomerate in the world. It comes in a
large folded A1 sized sheet with an A4 sized news insert - both sides of
the paper have been used.

The main article in the paper looks at the controversy over the annexation
of the diamond fields of Kimberley by the British in the Cape - and
the impact that that would have on the Boers.

Critical comment on this work:

This hard to come by book covers the life of the slaves in the Cape in the
days of the Dutch East India Company.

de Kock worked among the manuscripts of the Dutch East India Company held
in the Cape. These manuscripts covered the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Through is work and access to the document de Kock was able to recreate the
early life of the Cape.

The Balson Holdings Family Trust hold an excellent copy signed by the
author (five times) to his "attorney friend" Milne.

Critical comment on this work:

The book gives a stunning insight into the life of a slave and the early
life of the Hottentots - the foundation of the Griqua people.

Of this edition two hundred copies in a special quarter-leather deluxe binding
have been signed by the author. This is number 13. Small folio; original
quarter calf, with spine gilt, and tooled in compartments; marbled boards;
pp. xv + (i) + 222; colour frontis. tipped in; monochrome illustrations and
maps throughout. Bottom fore-corners of boards very slightly bumped; small
pale stain to fore-edge of early prelims. Very good condition.

This book covers the first fifty years of the Dutch colonisation at the Cape,
as seen by callers. During the years while it was in preparation I took the
opportunity of having the MS read by various friends.

The two most valuable criticisms made of it (in each case by more than
one reader) were:

that it would have been preferable to observe the strict chronological order,
even at the cost of breaking up the account of any one writer into several
sections. This has been done.

that it would have helped readers if some idea had been given of what was
going on at the time elsewhere in the world and especially at the Cape. Such
a "background" has been provided here, year by year, in the form of a very
brief summary of European history (of course entirely superfluous to the
historian
- but not all readers are historians), followed by short extracts from official
documents such as the Diary ("Dagregister", "DR") kept at the Cape; Resolutions
passed by the "Council of Policy", the ruling body here; Letters from this
to the "Lords XVII", the Directors of the Honourable Dutch East-India Company
in Holland, and vice versa; etc.

All these are translated from the original text: it is a continual surprise
to me how modern writers are content to rely on second-hand versions from,
e.g., Theal, Leibbrandt, Moodie and even Walker when exceptionally good Archives
are available at The Hague and in Cape Town. These extracts are not however
intended to form a skeleton history of the Colony, but rather to confirm
or contradict statements made by the writers of the items included.

Some of the plates in the book

The Balson Holdings Family Trust hold an excellent copy signed by the
author.

Critical comment on this work:

The book provides an excellent record into the early days of the Cape as
recorded by its earliest white inhabitants.